Nutrition for Cyclists.

I have recently changed my diet from the usual pies and beer to a healthier salad, fish and sparkling water combo. The weight is dropping off ~ 7kg in the last 5 or 6 weeks, still a bit to go to my target but Im happy with the rate of loss.

I have already begun to notice improvements in my average pace and feel much more comfortable in faster groups certainly over short periods.

Question is what should I be eating/drinking thats not going to upset my weight loss goals but will provide the go needed for 4+ hour rides?

Bit of googling suggests I should be thinking about-

Carbs before and during a ride.

Glucose/fructose

Hydration.

Post ride recovering. protien?

Caffiene

Nitrates

Any experts with suggestions prefferably avoiding the expensive commercial products?

OMG... ok.. well.. I'd suggest not taking carbs before or during the first 45 mins of a ride, and don't eat carbs in the 2-3 hours running up to a ride. After 45 mins you can take on carbs, gels or something.

This encourages you to burn fat well, and trains fat burning. If you down the carbs you might go faster at first but you'll probably end up wanting to eat loads of carbs, and you'll end up burning less fat. And your overall endurance will be less I reckon.

Post-ride, you want a good amount of fast carbs - something sweet does the trick, Torq Recovery drink is the best I've found but it's expensive.

You don't need carbs for endurance riding which is generally at a lower intensity than an all out racing speed for which you do need a small amount of carbs, teach your body to burn fat. Have a look through this website to get an idea, there's also some good pointers regarding weight loss goals on his website along with Ben's website below.

For the past few weeks i've been researching what works and what seems to be quackery as i've now got the "bike" bug again and i've realised that whilst i perhaps can't ride with the intensity like i did 6 years ago due to spinal issues that's no excuse to wallow in the corner and throw my toys out the pram so i've been preparing myself to get back into it this year, slowly but surely - hopefully.

I've been reading through Ben Coomber's website and listening to his podcasts along with examining the evidence for use of supplements etc through various peer reviewed studies with regard to performance/recovery etc. I've decided to try the Genetic Engineered Supplements range as a friend of a friend is involved in the current testing procedures but as to whether or not they will make a difference i'll have to wait and see, perhaps i've just wasted cash on expensive commercial fairy dust but i'm willing to try them for myself.
I've just received the Sustain zero carb performance mix, Matrix recovery mix and Genetic Pre-load mix and have yet to try them in anger so to speak, i am a vegi (no fish/meat products) so i guess i do need to supplement my intake of certain proteins and minerals somewhat more than those that do eat fish/meat on a regular basis.

Caffeine is generally regarded as good thing pre ride as it enables your body to burn fat more rapidly, just as well as i do like my double espressos

Coke works quite well. Torq Recovery (as opposed to the normal energy stuff) has protein, glucosamine, ribose, hmb, and a load of other stuff. Works very well. But it's frigging expensive, and as mentioned antying high GI will also work, like Coke.

You don't need carbs for endurance riding which is generally at a lower intensity than an all out racing speed for which you do need a small amount of carbs,

For short races I'd personally take carbs, just to provide extra power on top of the fat burning power I'll have trained for.

I used to think that a large bowl of porridge in the morning was the muts-nutts way to start the day as that's what i understood was the best breakfast but after recently changing my entire diet i never eat porridge in the morning now, i tend to save it for a post ride snack to replenish carbohydrate levels. For breakfast t'day i had a 2 or 3 egg omelette wi coriander and turmeric cooked in butter with roasted mushrooms, broccoli, peppers, red onions, tomato and topped wi cheese - yum!.

i used to feel lethargic in the late morning/early afternoon when i ate porridge and often slumped big style towards the end of the day but since changing my morning routine i can quite happily sail through the day wi just a handful of brazil nuts/seeds for a 3pm mid afternoon snack.

Nice breakfast, but there's no way I'd eat that before doing any kind of exercise - I'd spend the whole time with it repeating on me... Porridge, all the way.

TBH I'm not quite sure why some people seem to be so anti-carb on this thread, take a look at any professional (endurance) athlete's diet and one thing they all say is the importance of keeping carb levels up, eating during exercise etc. (I suppose if your aim is weight-loss you might want to change that, but in my case it isn't...)

TBH I'm not quite sure why some people seem to be so anti-carb on this thread, take a look at any professional (endurance) athlete's diet and one thing they all say is the importance of keeping carb levels up, eating during exercise etc

I'm not anti-carb at all - I'm trying to say that the timing of high GI carbs is very important and has an effect on how your body works during the ride.

molgrips - Member
What makes is better than any other fructose (?) drink?
Coke works quite well. Torq Recovery (as opposed to the normal energy stuff) has protein, glucosamine, ribose, hmb, and a load of other stuff. Works very well. But it's frigging expensive, and as mentioned antying high GI will also work, like Coke.

OMG... ok.. well.. I'd suggest not taking carbs before or during the first 45 mins of a ride, and don't eat carbs in the 2-3 hours running up to a ride. After 45 mins you can take on carbs, gels or something.
This encourages you to burn fat well, and trains fat burning. If you down the carbs you might go faster at first but you'll probably end up wanting to eat loads of carbs, and you'll end up burning less fat. And your overall endurance will be less I reckon.
Post-ride, you want a good amount of fast carbs - something sweet does the trick, Torq Recovery drink is the best I've found but it's expensive.

This has worked for me. I came off a famous diet where I got fatter and slower - 3 weeks ago. Today I'm over 3lbs lighter, and I just posted my fastest average this year - 19mph - in windy conditions as well. I could yet improve - I'm still partial to a beer in the evenings....

Question is what should I be eating/drinking thats not going to upset my weight loss goals but will provide the go needed for 4+ hour rides?

I looked at his specific mention of not upsetting his weight loss goals and wish to manage endurance riding for 4hrs, my idea and previous experience of endurance riding is usually at a much lower intensity, certainly <70% than a quick 1.5hr to 2hr blast at perhaps 85%> capacity, he did not give any reference to 24hr racing or such like and thus i did not consider that taking on extra carbs would be beneficial as he has changed his diet to a more healthy option.

When he has reached his desired target weight then yeah, i'm sure he could start to reintroduce carbs back into his cycling regime, perhaps i read the original post wrongly but i thought he was referencing heading out for a ride wi mates rather than entering a specific endurance event. if that's the case then yeah - the advice i gave may be wrong.

There does seem to be a lot of different views on this mostly surrounding carb intake. Normally reliable sources (nhs)suggest fill up on carbs via rice pasta and spuds others with the alternative that grains will be the death of us all.

Thinking about it I have reduced my intake of starchy carbs a lot, unintentionally although a guy I work with is evagelical about this and it may rubbed off.

One view from the links above was that doing so may just be depleting glycogen stores and the associated water wich is easy but pointless weight loss. Not sure this is true as my waist has shrunk considerably.

It's been interesting reading and I'm probably going continue as I am ( Im still 5 kg over target weight so unlikely to feint) perhaps just carrying a gel for the latter stages of a ride and making sure I have either a milkshake or recovery drink post ride .

There does seem to be a lot of different views on this mostly surrounding carb intake. Normally reliable sources (nhs)suggest fill up on carbs via rice pasta and spuds others with the alternative that grains will be the death of us all.

Thinking about it I have reduced my intake of starchy carbs a lot, unintentionally although a guy I work with is evagelical about this and it may rubbed off.

One view from the links above was that doing so may just be depleting glycogen stores and the associated water wich is easy but pointless weight loss. Not sure this is true as my waist has shrunk considerably.

It's been interesting reading and I'm probably going continue as I am ( Im still 5 kg over target weight so unlikely to feint) perhaps just carrying a gel for the latter stages of a ride and making sure I have either a milkshake or recovery drink post ride .